Review of Julie Chajes and Boaz Huss Eds PDF

BOOK REVIEWS 263
Julie Chajes and Boaz Huss, eds., Theosophical Appropriations: Esotericism,

Kabbalah and the Transformation of Traditions. Beer Sheva: Ben-Gurion
University of the Negev Press, 2016. 410 pages. ISBN 978-965-536-179-7
(hardback).
This edited volume originated at an international workshop at Ben-Gurion
University of the Negev, which was part of a four-year funded research project
on Kabbalah and the Theosophical Society. As such, it has a pleasing academic
integration uncommon in many, perhaps even the majority, of such collections.
Part I “Theosophical Transformations” opens with Julie Chajes’s “Construction
Through Appropriation: Kabbalah in Blavatsky’s Early Works” which traces two
different alleged origins that Blavatsky proposed for Kabbalah, Rosicrucianism
and Buddhism, and reveals the works from which she sourced her information.
Isaac Lubelsky’s “Friedrich Max Müller vs. Madame Blavatsky: A Chronicle of a
(Very) Strange Relationship” follows, both scholarly and gossipy, and a delight to
read. John Patrick Deveney’s “The Two Theosophical Societies: Prolonged Life,
Conditional Immortality, and the Individualized Immortal Monad” is a valuable
chapter that identifies “practical occult work, especially the projection of the
astral double (the astral self) and the achievement of union between man’s soul
and divine spirit to create an individualized, immortal entity capable of surviving
death” (p. 93) as the main activity in the first decade of the Theosophical Society.
This ceased after Blavatsky went to India, and the Masters decided Westerners
were fit only for universal brotherhood and theoretical knowledge, not practical
occultism. The last chapter in this section, Tomer Persico’s “A Pathless Land:
Krishnamurti and the Tradition of No Tradition” is a fresh and interesting look at
what parts of Theosophical doctrine and worldview Jiddu Krishnamurti took on.
The second part, “Kabbalistic Appropriations,” begins with editor Boaz Huss’s
informative and entertaining “‘Qabbalah, the Theos-Sophia of the Jews’: Jewish
Theosophists and their perceptions of Kabbalah,” a detailed reclamation of the
identities of many Jews who were active in the Theosophical Society, and who
(unsurprisingly) had different ideas about the original and function of Kabbalah
to Blavatsky in many instances. Eugene Kuzmin’s chapter, “Maksimilian Voloshin
and the Kabbalah” introduces Voloshin (1877–1932), a Russian polymath who
gave lectures on aspects of the Kabbalah from a predominantly esoteric view.
Next is Andreas Kilcher’s “Kabbalah and Anthroposophy: A Spiritual Alliance
According to Ernst Müller” discusses Müller’s A History of Jewish Mysticism (1946),
Theosophy minimised the importance of Kabbalah while he regarded “Kabbalah
as the primordial truth that guided Anthroposophy” (p. 216). The final contribu-
tion to this part is Olav Hammer’s “Jewish Mysticism Meets the Age of Aquarius:
Elizabeth Clare Prophet on the Kabbalah,” which discusses the place of Kabbalah
© Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review 10:2 ISSN 1946-0538 pp. 263–264
doi: 10.5840/asrr201910265
264 ALTERNATIVE SPIRITUALITY AND RELIGION REVIEW 10:2 (2019)
and Jewish ideas more generally in the thinking of a “full-time religious virtuoso,”
Prophet, who took over leadership of the Summit Lighthouse (later the Church
Universal and Triumphant) after the death of her husband Mark L. Prophet.
Part III, “Global Adaptations” contains five chapters, the first of which is
Shimon Lev’s “Gandhi and his Jewish Theosophist Supporters in South Africa”
(a study of the Jewish and specifically Jewish-Theosophist allies of Gandhi during
his time in South Africa and England. Victoria Ferentinou’s “Light from Within
or Light from Above? Theosophical Appropriations in Early Twentieth-Century
Greek Culture” covers figures such as Platon Drakoulis (1858–1934) and Antonios
Halas (1891–1967) and the complicated relationship of Theosophy and esoteric
doctrines had with the Orthodox Church. The next chapter, “Theosophical
Orientalism and the Structures of Intercultural Transfer: Annotations on the
Appropriation of the Cakras in Early Theosophy” by Karl Baier is a more method-
ological reflection on cultural appropriation and the accompanying conceptions
of self and other that parties to the cultural exchange hold. Massimo Introvigne’s
“Lawren Harris and the Theosophical Appropriation of Canadian Nationalism”
is a notably original study of Harris, a Theosophical artist. The final chapter in
the book by Helmut Zander is titled “Transformations of Anthroposophy from
the Death of Rudolf Steiner to the Present Day” and refers to Theosophy only in
terms of Steiner’s having led the German Theosophical Society prior to founding
Anthroposophy.
It is likely that all readers of Theosophical Appropriations: Esotericism, Kabbal-
ah and the Transformation of Traditions will learn something, as it is a strikingly
novel and innovative volume that brings together a complex range of figures on
the world stage who were united by the Theosophical Society in general, and for
a subset of these figures, also by an interest in Kabbalah. There is some criticisms
I could make; the proof-reading is not of the highest quality and there are many
typographical errors, for example. But that is a small quibble. Chajes and Huss have
produced an enjoyable and informative book that makes an original contribution
to the study of esotericuism and deserves a wide audience.
Carole M. Cusack
University of Sydney, Australia

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BOOK REVIEWS 263

Julie Chajes and Boaz Huss, eds., Theosophical Appropriations: Esotericism,

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